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Rising consumerism in Thailand. Is this a repeat of the 1997 financial crisis? Very high construction activity, with Thai buying several properties on mortgage despite lack of income. Giant, monstrous credit bubble based on extremely lenient bank credit. Russians also big buyers of properties. 200% over-valuation based on historical metrics. People now increasingly buying properties in smaller places. Thai paying big money for education of their kids. Consumerism at its finest. Shopping Malls are jammed packed; no place for parking. Over-heated market. Middle-class family kids own the greatest and best toys, spending one month’s salary just to buy the latest iPhone. Too many luxury restaurants, where they pay top-dollars what elsewhere you could eat for $2. New cars subsidized by the government. People buy new cars before they get their first salaries. Culture of credit, as it is in the West; but consequences worse. This bubble must burst, and will affect the rest of Asia.

discussions

I had this idea to open an online community for consumers, employees and employers to talk openly about businesses and improve the market through awareness. On the local level people could read/post more than just customer reviews, but employee and employer reviews- the pros and cons. All perspectives together could give people a better idea on what businesses to boycott, and what to support. Businesses could talk to each other to promote healthy competition that brings them both more customers, advertise together, or support each other. Consumers could organize local protests to influence a business and rally up larger numbers of informed consumers, or organize donation pools for charities/businesses that they support. Our communities could connect better, when we’re on the same page it allows for a big impact on influencing businesses where we want them to go. Businesses would know what the consumer wants, and job-seekers would know what the business wants/what to expect on the job. New businesses could be promoted and supported in their trek to small-time success, people could compare businesses to help find what they’re looking for, and know more about the product and style ahead of time. Constructive criticism opens the gateway for free publicity. Hopefully this gives a general idea, I was considering asking my computer coding friend to help build the website, but my dad said there were a few already out there. If these websites are as wide-reaching as I would want them to be, then I should have known about them already. Either they don’t exist, or current websites are woefully uncreative and limiting (such as Yelp, for customer reviews only, offering no platform for protests, gathering, etc). Thoughts?

“The Jews of Russia who worked for the destruction of monarchy found themselves finally in the grips of a brutal religious persecution which hit them harder than the Christians. Their most brilliant exponents among the Communists were exiled, slaughtered, or assassinated in exile. The fate of Trotzki [sic] is symbolic for Russian Jewry.” – Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, aka Francis Stewart Campbell, Menace of the Herd or Procrustes at Large

I’m trying to get other opinions and feedback to expand this article I wrote, maybe into a book. I’m in an exploratory stage. I really want to get some good stats and stories. Get into the heads of other people, get the tangible evidence to shape my hypothesis. Article here: https://heartbeatstoit.bastiatinstitute.org/2014/06/17/platinum-cages-in-the-mind-of-millennials/ I feel like the biggest reason I was even able to form this perspective is because I am one of the few (or not few??) millenials who has rejected the school system-college path, questioned my family despite being middle class and not poor, and seen connections between myself and poor/urban/mixed race kids that have been abused. Everyone talks about the welfare family, or the black family. Side note: not racism, I feel “black” and “white” have come to describe more than just race. Anyway, it seems like the helicopter parents, the coddlers, the kids who have such little freedom and such high sugary luxury, these stories are hidden. They are written off as “those kids had it all”. The abuse is invisible, and normalized. And justified. Let me know what you think, or some good resources to further this.